Las Vegas Sands' Quarterly Results Miss Wall Street Targets
January 25 2017 - 4:54PM
Dow Jones News
By Maria Armental
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. reported a
second straight quarter of higher revenue, though a slowdown in
Macau drove down profit and revenue for the year.
Shares, up 45% over the past 12 months, fell 3.6% to $54.60 in
after-hours trading as results missed Wall Street targets.
Macau, considered the world's gambling capital, accounts for the
bulk of Las Vegas Sands' business--and its falling fortunes last
year.
A corruption crackdown and weakening economy on the mainland cut
into business in the semiautonomous city, the only place in China
where casinos are legal. Gambling revenue fell for 26 consecutive
months before starting to rebound over the last five months of
2016, according to government figures, although low-stakes "mass
gamblers" now account for a larger portion of gamblers.
Las Vegas Sands' Cotai Strip properties in Macao, for example,
saw a 16% expansion in the mass gaming segment in the most recent
period, according to Mr. Adelson, leading to the company's
strongest growth in the segment since the second quarter of
2014.
Over all, fourth-quarter profit rose 9% to $509 million, or 64
cents a share. Excluding certain items, profit was roughly flat
from the year earlier at 62 cents a share.
Revenue, excluding promotional allowances, rose 7% to $3.08
billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected adjusted
profit of 66 cents on $3.11 billion in revenue.
For the year, profit fell 15% to $1.67 billion while revenue
fell 2% to $11.41 billion.
Following the quarter's end, the casino operator reached a
settlement agreement with the Justice Department under which it
paid $6.96 million and entered into a nonprosecution agreement to
resolve a criminal matter over improper financial dealings in
China. Last year, Las Vegas Sands paid $9 million and hired an
independent monitor to resolve a related civil matter with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 25, 2017 16:39 ET (21:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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